GOP Gubernatorial Candidates: Most Pressing Issues

I had the chance to sit down with all four Republican candidates for governor to talk about their platforms.

Tonight, we asked the candidates what are the most pressing issues facing the state of Illinois and how would you attack it?

It’s all a part of the coverage we’ll bring you as your local election headquarters.

“There’s no question in my mind what the most pressing issue in regards to the economy is jobs. As I travel the state of Illinois, perhaps in southern Illinois the issue is coal and fracking. Northern Illinois might be the Great Lakes waters. Urban areas might be crime, but without a doubt, in my opinion, it’s all about the jobs. The more people we have working, the broader the tax base, the more resources we’ll be able to have to decide if we put them in those areas,” said candidate Dan Rutherford.

“Illinois has so many things, including our location, going for us. We must make Illinois what I like to call a “destination economy” for people that create jobs. We’re overtaxed. We’re overregulated. The economy is job one,” said candidate Kirk Dillard.

“For the past five and a half years under Pat Quinn, we’ve lost 200,000 jobs. There’s three things really. We need a sound financial state. We need some job enhancements. We need an educated work force. And we need to end this culture of corruption that Chicago politicians have put over us,” said candidate Bill Brady.

“Our working families are suffering. We have brutally high unemployment. We have jobs leaving the state. Employers are leaving and we’ve got to turn that around. Nothing else matters if we don’t become pro-growth, pro job creation again, because we can’t afford healthcare or education or anything else. To turn around our economic growth opportunities, I would make our policies much more pro business. Reduce the tax burden and the regulatory burden on our businesses so companies want to come here and invest and thrive and hire the great workers of Illinois,” said candidate Bruce Rauner.

Just a reminder the primary election is March 18.

Copyright 2015 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.